West Bengal has performed 'poorly' in almost all governance issues, survey reveals

The West Bengal government has performed "poorly" in almost all governance issues, mainly on providing better employment opportunities, agriculture loan availability and higher price realisation for farm products, according to a survey released on Friday, April 5.

The West Bengal Survey Report 2018 has highlighted three major issues - providing better employment opportunities (for 39.28% of survey participants), agriculture loan availability (35.86%) and higher price realisation for farm products (35.21%) - which have not only been neglected by the state, but are also are in the top priority list for voters in the state.

"The government has performed poorly in almost all governance issues, with the exception of average performance on matters such as empowerment of women and security and electricity for domestic use," said the report. The report is the third part of the survey jointly conducted by the West Bengal Election Watch (WBEW) and the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) on 'Governance issues and Voting Behaviour 2018'.

Among the urban voters in West Bengal, it found out that the topmost issues were 
1. Providing better employment opportunities (45%)
2. Reducing water and air pollution (39%) 
3. Traffic congestion (39%) The state government performed poorly in providing better public transport (2.36%) and reducing noise pollution in urban regions of the state, it further stated.

The survey report was released on a day when Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, at the election rally in Assam said that the state government has won the United Nations Public Service Award for its 'Kanyashree' programme, which was introduced in 2012 to aid the girl-child in education and her well-being.

READ: 'Modi's 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' Is A Flop,' Says Mamata Banerjee Comparing It To West Bengal's 'Kanyashree' Scheme

On the voting behaviour of the electorates in the state, the survey said the highest percentage of voters felt that the chief ministerial candidate was the most significant reason for voting a candidate in an election. While 38% of the voters said this was important, 46% deemed it "very important."

This survey report has a dedicated chapter for West Bengal which covers all 42 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state and approximately 21,000 voters as respondents. It is a civil society process, liked with NGOs ADR, New Delhi and the National Election Watch India.
 
A large number of voters 67% said distribution of cash, gifts for polls were illegal, while 32% said they were aware of instances where such inducements were offered in lieu of their votes.

"98% voters felt that the candidates with criminal background should not be in Parliament or the state assembly, while only 36% voters said they could get information on criminal records of the candidates," the report elaborated.

On voting for candidates with criminal antecedents, 36% voter felt that people vote for such candidates because they were unaware about their criminal records, while the other 34% felt that people vote for criminal candidates because they think that the cases against such candidates were not of serious nature.

Voters in West Bengal while voting for candidates with criminal records also keep in mind-
1. Their power - 34%
2. Their caste or religion - 33%
3. On the basis of work - 34% 

74% of the people included in the survey were from rural areas, while 26% were from the urban regions of the state. While 61% were males, 39% were females.

A total 63% people surveyed were from the general castes, 23% Scheduled Caste, 7% Scheduled Tribe and 6% from the Oher Backward Classes. The survey, which was conducted between October-December 2018, covered 534 parliamentary constituencies and more than 2.37 lakh voters.

(With PTI inputs)